Role
Professor Paula Moffatt is the Director of External Engagement at the Nottingham Law School, NTU. She is a Professor of Banking and Insolvency Law and member of the NLS Centre for Law, Emerging Technologies and Business.
Career overview
Paula studied law at University College London before qualifying as a solicitor in a City practice where she was an associate in the banking department. She joined NLS in 2003 and has since held several different roles. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has experience across the academic and vocational postgraduate arena which includes the design and delivery of specialist training for paralegals working in the capital markets division of the European Investment Bank.
She is a member of the NLS Senior Management Team and Head of the NLS Practitioner Portfolio which encompasses the NLS suite of Intellectual Property Courses, NLS bespoke training programmes, and NLS CPD.
These courses include: the Professional Certificate in Trade Mark Practice, the Intellectual Property (IP) Litigation course, the IP Higher Courts Advocacy Certificate and the Basic Litigation Course for Patent Attorneys.
Research areas
Paula’s research has predominantly been in the field of insolvency, bank insolvency, secured transactions and, most recently, crypto-assets in insolvency and restructuring. She has delivered papers at national and international conferences including The Insolvency Service, UCL (2025), INSOL Europe, Amsterdam (2003), INSOL International London Colloquium (2022), the National University of Singapore (2019) and Yerevan State University (2019). Her doctorate in legal practice explored the conflicts of laws issues that arise in the context of intermediated securities and the consequences for investors on the insolvency of a financial intermediary. In 2016 she was invited to give expert evidence at the European Securities and Markets Authority Round Table on Asset Segregation and Custody Services.
External activity
As the Director of External Engagement for Nottingham Law School, Paula works with a wide range of firms, practitioners, universities, businesses and institutions and chairs the NLS Advisory Board.
She is an academic member of INSOL International, and an Executive Member of the Conference on European Restructuring and Insolvency Law (CERIL).
In September 2026 she was appointed CERIL Vice Chair and will become CERIL Chair in April 2027. She currently Co-chairs CERIL Working Party 16 on Crypto-assets in Restructuring and Insolvency with NLS Visiting Professor Dr Dominik Skauradszun (Fulda University/Frankfurt Court of Appeal, Germany).
Publications
Recent publications include:
Skauradszun, D., & Moffatt, P. (2026). Shortcomings in the tracing of digital assets in the EU’s Insolvency III Directive. Laws, 15(3), 40.
Moffatt, P. (2026). The interests of creditors. In J. M. Wood, S. Ellina, & J. Tribe (Eds.), Directors and creditors: law and liability. Oxford University Press.
Moffatt, P. (2025). The new horizon and the future of insolvency law in Europe [Editorial]. International Insolvency Review, 34(3), 497-501.
Parry, R., & Moffatt, P. (2025, April 8). Cryptoassets in insolvencies: selected difficulties and necessary guidelines [Paper presentation]. Forward Thinking: a research and technical conference presented by the Insolvency Service 2025, University College, London.
MOFFATT, P. and SKAURADSZUN, D., 2023. CERIL report 2023-3 on crypto-assets in restructuring and insolvency. Leiden: Conference on European Restructuring and Insolvency Law (CERIL).
MOFFATT, P. and SKAURADSZUN, D., 2023. CERIL statement 2023-3 on crypto-assets in restructuring and insolvency. Conference on European Restructuring and Insolvency Law (CERIL).
Moffatt, P., & Skauradszun, D. (2023, October 31). CERIL report 2023-3 on crypto-assets in restructuring and insolvency. Conference on European Restructuring and Insolvency Law (CERIL).
Moffatt, P., & Skauradszun, D. (2023, October 11-12). The jam in the sandwich - the European Insolvency Regulation’s strengths and shortcomings in a crypto-asset market [Paper presentation]. INSOL Europe Academic Forum, Amsterdam.